Revett Minerals Reports Third Quarter 2009 Results

SPOKANE VALLEY, WA, Nov. 16 /CNW Telbec/ - Revett Minerals Inc., Spokane Valley, Washington ("TSX-RVM") ("Revett" or the "Company") announces its consolidated operating and financial results for the Company's three & nine months ended September 30, 2009 . Currency is reported in United States dollars unless otherwise indicated.

Major Highlights for three & nine months ended September 30, 2009 include:

    
    - Successfully restructured debt and payment obligations with
      Trafigura, Royal Gold and Small Mines Development;
    - Improved productivity and reduced consumables at Troy resulted in a 19%
      reduction of direct operating costs per ton milled compared to the
      third quarter of 2008;
    - Produced 879,449 ounces of silver and 6.7 million pounds of copper at
      the Troy Mine during the first nine months of 2009 compared to 793,998
      ounces of silver and 7.1 million pounds of copper during the same
      period in 2008.


    Consolidated Results
    --------------------
    

During the third quarter of 2009 the Company was able to reduce direct operating costs by 19% over the same period in 2008. Several factors contributed to this reduction: (1) reduced labor costs due principally to a 5% payroll reduction at the Troy Mine; (2) successful employee efforts that focused on reducing the consumption of items such as fuel, explosives and milling reagents; and (3) lower acquisition costs of those consumables.

Concentrate deliveries and sales during the third quarter of 2009 consisted 1.9 million pounds of payable copper and 250,982 ounces of payable silver for the three months ended September 30, 2009 , compared to 2.5 million pounds of copper and 302,239 ounces of silver during the third quarter of 2008.

Despite a reduction in operating costs, the Company reported a net loss of $1.4 million or $0.01 per share on revenue of $7.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2009 , compared to a net loss of $3.0 million or $0.04 per share on revenue of $7.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2008 . During the three months ended September 30, 2009 , LME copper prices averaged $2.66 per pound and LME silver averaged $14.70 per ounce compared to $3.48 per pound for copper and $15.03 per ounce for silver during the same period in 2008 resulting in a reduction in revenues of approximately $1.6 million . However revenues for the three months ended September 30, 2008 was offset by the impact of the significant decrease in metal prices at the end of the quarter which resulted in negative mark to market adjustment related to un-priced metal sales.

John Shanahan , President and CEO, noted "This has been another watershed quarter for Revett. Although production was below our expectations, we continue to move forward in a number of areas, most notably restructuring and reducing our debt and continued focus on our operating costs. We remain committed to our goal of improved output from our Troy mine and development of our world class project at Rock Creek"

    
    Troy Mine
    ---------
    

The following is a summary of key operating statistics for Troy for the three months ended September 30, 2009 and for the comparable period ended September 30, 2008 .

    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                Three Months Ended      Three Months Ended
                                September 30, 2009      September 30, 2008
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Tons milled                            302,543                 321,696
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    Tons milled per day                      3,362                   3,497
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Copper grade (%)                          0.39                    0.45
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Silver grade (opt)                        1.00                    1.04
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Copper recovery (%)                       81.0                    88.7
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Silver recovery (%)                       82.0                   90.19
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Copper produced (lbs)                1,928,405               2,549,580
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Silver produced (ozs)                  250,982                 302,239
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    

Production during the third quarter of 2009 was hampered due to an eight day shut down of the mine because of electrical problems in July. With the decrease in tons mined and lower metal grades, production was slightly lower with 250,982 ounces of silver and 1,928,045 as compared to 302,329 ounces of silver and 2,549,580 pounds of copper for the same period in 2008.

Ore grades remain slightly lower than life-of-mine averages (as was planned in the mine schedule), due to the fact that more ore from the lower grade area known as the Lower Quartzite was mined during the quarter. Mill recoveries remained good, but lower than plan at 82.0% silver and 81.0% for copper due to higher proportion of non sulfide ore, compared to recoveries of 90.0% and 89.0% copper in the third quarter of 2008.

While third quarter 2009 results were negatively impacted by poor productivity in July, direct operating costs remained significantly better as shown in the table below. Declining by 19% compared to third quarter of 2008.

    
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                     Q3.09     Q2.09     Q1.09     Q4.08     Q3.08     Q2.08
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Tons milled    302,543   349,925   339,171   354,190   321,696   331,698
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Cost per ton
     milled ($)      22.39     19.09     18.69     26.40     26.83     26.96
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Rock Creek
    ----------
    

Permitting for Rock Creek Project is now complete and all pleadings have been submitted to the United States District Court for the District of Montana in conjunction with pending environmental challenges. A ruling from the court is expected by the end the year, or during the first quarter of 2010.

The full Third Quarter 2009 consolidated financial statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD & A) can be viewed on www.sedar.com and the Company's web site at www.revettminerals.com

About Revett

Revett Minerals, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates the currently producing Troy Mine and development-stage Rock Creek Project, both located in northwestern Montana, USA. The proven reserves at the Troy Mine and significant resources at the Rock Creek project will form the basis of our plan to become a solid mid-tier base and precious metals producer. Revett plans on expanding production through exploration in and around its current properties, as well as through targeted business combinations of advanced stage projects.

    
    John Shanahan
    President  & CEO
    

Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, the information presented in this press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Generally, these forward looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "is not expected", "budget", "plans", "schedule", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "or does not anticipate" or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include but are not limited to those with respect to the expectation of a ruling on environmental challenges to the permit for the Rock Creek Project. There are no assurances that a final ruling will in fact be issued with respect to the environmental challenges on a timely basis or at all and there may be further challenges. Forward looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Reference is also made to those factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Form 10-K filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and with the SEC on EDGAR. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Revett Minerals does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

%SEDAR: 00021518E

For further information: Doug Ward, VP Corporate Development; Monique Hayes, Corporate/Investor Communications Manager, [phone]; www.revettminerals.com